Strategy for History Optional in UPSC- Ajay Kumar Bansal (2013,AIR 178)

UPSC Preparation: Strategy for History Optional - Ajay Kumar Bansal (2013,AIR 178)

Name UPSC – CSE 2013 Rank Optional Subject Marks Scored Background

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Ajay Kumar Bansal Rank 178 History 246(121+125) Civil Engineer IIT Roorkee

Strategy to prepare for History optionals for Civil services by Gaurav Gupta , AIR-117 (2013)

History Optional For UPSC,strategy from Gaurav Gupta (CSE-2013/AIR-117)

Name Rank Marks Scored Background

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Gaurav Gupta Rank 117 239(114+125)  IIT Kanpur, Electrical Engineering, 2006

History as optional -

First of all one should take optional based on his interest as this subject is you would be reading for next 1-2 years or more so you must have zeal to go deeper, read new books by new writers to learn and understand various perspectives. And that is why I took History as optional despite being told by some people that it is not ‘scoring’, or it has ‘large syllabus’. However once I decided, I made sure that I should not get such thoughts. In UPSC all subjects are scoring provided you are answering what is asked.

Is history for you...?

Why History ??

If the prelim’s is to be compared with one day match, mains could be described as test match. The temperament and technique to play it is different than prelims.
Prelim is mainly factual study, many times without knowing how or why. On the other hand main’s is analytical study, knowing the essence of the story.
With introduction of variety in marking like 15,20,25 marks questions, instead of regular 60 marks, you are suppose to know the essence of many more stories.